ONE YEAR of EXCELLENT COFFEE

It was one year ago that Voluto Coffee opened its doors, on a similar cold January day, but come to think of it, it was 8 years ago that the little dream of this started. It's hard to believe that a whole entire year has passed as it seems only yesterday we were feeling the butterflies in our stomach, anxiously serving our first ever cup of coffee. Were we going to live up to the expectations we set for ourselves and of others or were we going to fall flat on our faces and realize we've made a big mistake...In retrospective, we thought we were going to be busier than we have been and that's the honest truth, and we certainly underestimated the power of foot traffic. There are days when it is difficult to stay on a positive path, but we look towards the future with big hopes. We never imagined that we'd grow such a strong following of committed regular customers in such a short period of time. We're actually a little baffled with the amount of people who appreciate the efforts we pour into our coffee and that in an essence speaks volume, LOUDLY. Although this year has been exhausting and stressful to say the least, it is our customers and the love of coffee that has kept us going strong. It is the one customer that drives across town for our french press coffee, and the one that drives out of her way in the morning for our latte, and the one that comes every day for a macchiato...It is the many businesses such as FDA, Pittsburgh Glass Center, & The Cotton Factory that has helped us pull through by their continued support ( monetary & mentally) and words of encouragement. We also couldn't have done this without the love and support of our family & friends. My entire family has been so supportive throughout the year with helping us move, cooking us meals and being regular customers ( even though they no way reside near the area). We have worked hard this year, and we've worked many hours on a continuous basis, but we can say that we most definitely enjoy our craft and almost every moment spent at Voluto. Although there are many things on our to-do list that weren't accomplished for 2009, I strongly believe that we've over exceeded in so many other aspects. Coming into this business with no coffee or business background and a little practice on the Synesso ( remember that it lived in our basement for 5 months), I believe we've achieved being able to stand up next to all of the other 3rd wave coffee establishments of Pittsburgh. When we opened Voluto Coffee, we knew that the bar on coffee had been raised and we felt a huge amount of pressure coming on board with a roaster of such strength ( 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters) and in our opinion, there was no room for error. We knew that the moment we opened our doors, the coffee and the espresso had to speak for itself and the experience we were creating for our customers had to be excellent I believe that our product since we opened has only improved and that our commitment to quality is making an impression, and we can honestly stand next to our product and feel proud.
There are many more goals that we've set for ourselves for 2010, and we hope that you will stay tuned to find out what they are. May 2010 bring us more awesome customers like all of you, so that you may enjoy great coffee and espresso beverages for years to come! From the both of us, we wish all of you a lovely new year and we want to thank everyone again for letting us be a part of your waking moments.

Enough of sappy talk....for our 1 year anniversary, we wanted to have specials on the traditional drinks in order to encourage some of you to try them ( hopefully naked)(not literally, please!, I mean, no sugar)....So, all day from 9am-4pm, you'll have the opportunity to have these:

$1 Espresso

$2 Cappuccino

Lastly, even though we don't necessarily prefer sweeten latte, we are indeed excited about our switch to all homemade syrup ( almost official).. so we're offering our homemade vanilla latte for $3

One of our goals for 2010 is to increase our presence and identity. Although we're really proud of being the only carrier of 49th Parallel Coffee in Pittsburgh ( and I believe PA, could be wrong)..we do live in their shadow. Our cups say 49th Parallel, our bags and so on...so, one of the ways to increase our presence is to have people wear us and parade us around, that is why we created our T-Shirts. So, tomorrow, every 10th Customer ordering a drink will get a free shirt! 

So come down, get an awesome cup of coffee and check out our t-shirts and let us know what you think!

Comments

[Teresa Buck]

What day are the specials? Saturday?

[Amelie]

Today!

[rich and melanie]

Covering shifts this afternoon otherwise we'd be up there. Congratulations on year one. You guys have been a great addition to the coffee scene and we look forward to having y'all slinging Epic for years to come. Don't know if it every really gets "easy", but the first year is definitely the hardest.

[Amelie]

Thanks for the encouragement!